There's a 2 year lag in the data, so the figures are from 2009-- right as the financial crises was taking hold. So, no surprise: default rates jumped to 8.8% in 2009 from 7% in 2008.

You might ask yourself: "What's the point of going to college if you're going to end up drowning in debt or even worse, defaulting on your student loans?"

And furthermore: "Do graduates of top tier institutions fare any better financially than graduates of other schools?"

The answer is yes, they do.

We checked the default rates at the top 20 institutions, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report. Of the Ivy League schools, Princeton had the highest default rate. Cal Tech stood out for being the only top institution with a 0% default rate. M.I.T.'s was near 0. It looks like science and math majors are winning out here.